So the Queens Diamond Jubilee is here and the streets are thronged
with patriotic merriment, little plastic flags and cute triangle sandwiches but
how many of the revellers are here for the monarchy rather then simply because
the council deemed it appropriate to have knees up?
How many people have considered what it
means to live in a country that clings with fantastical, unapprised vigour to
the outmoded and tawdry tradition that is our constitutional monarchy?
Is this really how we wish to be
represented both at home and abroad? True, the Duke of Edinburgh’s retro and
retrograde humour and salty observations have kept our nation entertained over
the years in much the same way that watching Benny Hill repeatedly slapping a bald
man can certainly offer some second-rate entertainment but why do we not only
put up with this arrangement but celebrate it? Or at least delegate it to our
mental pile of amnesia destined debris?
How a country is represented, how it
works, its very foundations are important. The details of today are the promoters
of tomorrow. What are the lessons of
history as far as politics goes? Strive for liberty, justice and above all else
freedom. The democratic system has so far been mankind’s preeminent
achievement. Yes it is far from perfect but when compared to the alternatives
it is unrivalled and an unaccountable hereditary public office simply is not attuned
to the best of what we are capable.
Let us strive for a clean beginning
divorced from the muddled remnants of the dark ages. Let us concentrate the
power truly in the hands of the people. We all know in our bones that the days
of the monarchy are fast approaching their weary conclusion. So let us reclaim our
right as a nation to choose a head of state and then vote them out when they
screw up and vote in a new one. This is the way of true democracy, this is the
way of choice, the way of divine right is a sham that is not worthy to be
uttered in this centaury and arguments for tourism, appeal, tradition and
respect are all equally as tedious and misguided.
If you were in a restaurant and they
brought you a substandard meal you would complain, if you were then told that
was the only meal you were allowed and that this was a tradition that had gone
on for hundreds of years you would suspect that someone was losing their grip
on reality. Well people, history has left us holding a cold bowl of gruel. For
the sake of our future it is time to summon the maître d', kick up a fuss and
kick the Royal Family out of power.
